things are seemingly dire and bleak for our profession, what with California & Now, is when the world needs librarians the most! With SO much information out there who else better than a librarian to decode it, curate it, interpret it, organize it, authenticate it, and integrate it?

Who else but the librarian is going to teach attribution and Creative Commons? Who else but the librarian is going to be able to filter through millions of research results, then curate and create a playlist of amazing resources in just a few minutes for the eager student? We are vital and we are valuable! Now let's go out there, steup up our game, and & spread the word![drops microphone & steps off soap box -- for the nonce]

Thanks to everyone who made my Baltimore tour of education conferences AWESOME! At the MSET & Common Ground conference at the Baltimore Convention Center #CGMD13 where we were trending #2 on Twitter I got to re-connect with my Maryland peeps & tweeps!

LOVING the super fun, informative, & connecting Digital Sandbox we ran as a team where we had deep conversations, PLN building and a Learning Tools Smackdown (though sadly greatly hindered by the craptastic wireless at the conference - don't get me started on THAT!),

3 comments:

I am so tired of librarians being considered as unnecessary when cuts need to be made. Ten years ago every school in our area had a librarian for the district and some had one in each building. Fast forward to today and there is only one school with a librarian that has not been moved into the classroom. Who is teaching our kids to be information literate? Who is ensuring that new, relevant materials are being purchased?

Thank you for your comment! I totally agree! It's disheartening at what is going on in our profession. That's why we need to be proactive and visible! We need to be OUT THERE & blog (no huge guilt trip but you know...1 post only?) The more visible we are the less vulnerable we will be! Cheers!~Gwyneth

Two years ago my district cut the technology facilitators and the librarians. We went from a group of about 50, to half that and became "Instructional Media Specialists". That means that a good number of us in the library are not certified librarians. (I'm one of them.) In addition, we each serve two campuses, attempting to do all of the things that come with running a library and helping to integrate technology with the teachers as well - twice! I love the position, but trying to do it and do it well in two places is a tall order.

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About Me

Gwyneth A. Jones, aka The Daring Librarian, is a blogger, a Tweeter, an international Ed Tech speaker, trope and meme archivist, creator of content, a citizen of advocacy, and a resident of social media. Gwyneth is a Google Certified Teacher, and the author of the award winning Daring Librarian blog. Privileged to have been elected and to have served on the 2011-2014 ISTE Board of Directors. Jones is also a Library Journal Mover & Shaker, a Gale/Cengage New Leader, and was named the Best of the Best and a Visionary Leader by Teacher Librarian Magazine. Her work & writings have been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. Admittedly, she’s also a goofball, a geek, and ridiculously humble.

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The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer. I also reserve the right to misspell words, make wild generalizations, have unfounded opinions, and be snarky. Snarky is not a crime.

Just in case. If I say something stupid in the future, it’s better to be able to point out that the stupidity is mine, and mine alone. My stupidity! You can’t have it! :)

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